The difference between a champion and a contender

I have been involved in combat sports for 36 years either as a boxer or a kick-boxer. I started  after visiting the Bell Green Amateur Boxing Club when I was 11 years old.  Since then I have competed as an amateur boxer for 12 years winning the ABA Home Counties Championships as a Middleweight boxer on 5 occasions. I went on to compete as a full contact kick-boxer and was the British Light-heavy Champion for 2 years and competed in the World Championships in Budapest when I was 31 years old. I then set up a boxing club with Ken Reynolds and hoped to create my own champions.

But what makes one person a champion and another a contender.  Although I won titles in boxing, kick-boxing and of course ballroom dancing, I never achieved what I always wanted. Like most people as a child I had dreams, we all had dreams as kids didn't we.  I was going to be a World Champion better than Muhammed Ali.  When I started boxing that was my target. But as the years passed I realised I was never going to be a world champion.  The reason was because I didn't believe I could I would never be good enough.  I will always know I could have done better if I had believed in myself.  But any physically fit person can.

If you know who I am you will know that I run an amatuer boxing club in Banbury called Spit n Sawdust.  You may also know with the help of Ken Reynolds who was an extraordinarily good coach, have produced a few Home Counties Boxing Champions including Imtiaz Khandokar and Ayaz Muhammed.  You will surely know of Robert Evans.  Rob is what I believe is an over achiever.  and was National Champion consecutively on 3 occasions.  Rob achieved in 3 years what I failed to achieve in 12 years of amateur boxing.  So what do I think the difference was between Rob and the rest of us?

Rob started at the gym just to get fit and ended up starting boxing.  He started like everyone else and didn't show too much interest in Boxing but liked being in a boxing club.  He was big and strong but seemed to have more interest in talking to the girls who used to come to watch him train "and it did my head right in".  If you come to my gym you come to train he wasn't training.  So I told his friends he would never make a boxer because all he was interested in was talking to girls and looking in the mirror.  This got Rob really mad at me to the point he never talked to me for 2 weeks. But what he did do was train like a man possessed.  Eventually he did talk and to say he became like, a son may be an exaggeration, but we became close.  But he didn't get any special treatment.  I told him as I have told many people if you want to be the best in boxing you have to eat sleep and breath boxing.

The Difference

Rob's reaction was to train every day often 6 hours a day starting with a 4 mile run from his home in Bloxham, then have a day that could include weight training, swimming, circuit training boxing training and finishing with a run home. He would study all his favourite boxers and mimmick their techniques and copy their training routines.  He would set himself training programmes that he had looked up on You Tube from successful boxers.   By the time his first fight had came along he already knew he was going to win because in his mind nobody trained as hard as him and no-one his weight could possibly move as fast as him. This was to be the 1st of a 17 fight unbeaten run that included 9 wins inside the distance.  The thing that cost him his 1st defeat was ironically down to over training from which he suffered from for almost two years.

So the difference between Rob and the other boxers at the gym was that he realised that as long s he worked harder than everyone else he would be a champion because there couldn't be anyone fitter, stronger or faster than him.  We have a couple of boxers who are more skillfull than Rob but no-one with more desire to be the best.

If you are reading his as a boxer wanting inspiration then you know what you need to do.  If you are not reading this as a boxer but seeking inspiration know this "your only limits you have are those you impose on yourself. I am not the best example, but what I have managed to do is get people to achieve more than they thought possible. Robert Evans is a beacon for Spit n Sawdust because of what he has achieved. But many more have chosen boxing and changed their lives.  Some will tell you they would be in prison without the gym whilst others have found confidence, became fitter and stronger both physically and emotionally. 

Being talented is not enough to be a champion

I remember when Rob was getting down because he was struggling with motivation. I told him that all he needs is faith. Faith in knowing that as long as he trained hard he would be the the National Champion.  I told him that if he drove a car home from Bloxham at night that he would only see a a little of the road ahead but he would keep driving because he would have 'faith' that beyond the lights is more road.  If you take a turn off that road you will never get to Bloxham.  It is the same in life, not only for Rob but for all of us.  If we want to achieve anything we need to stay focussed on our goal and not be distracted. We can all achieve what we want as long as we believe we can and Robert Evans is living proof.  I don't believe he is a natural boxer we have had better boxers but he is a winner and has belief in his own ability. He once told me he was born to be rich, I didn't believe him.....I am starting to now

These blogs I write are not to say how great I think I am they are here to inspire people to become all they can be.  People telling me they respect what I do is great but the best thing about what I do is that I see people's lives improve. 

"Champions aren't made in gyms.
Champions are made from something deep inside them, 
a desire a dream a vision.
they have to have the skill and the will,
but the will must be stronger than the skill"

Muhammad Ali